Science at KS2

In Lower Key Stage 2 children are encouraged to ask questions about scientific concepts and then carry out experiments to find out the answers.

As children enter Upper Key Stage 2 children will continue to practise these skills but with more depth and precision.

In Lower key stage 2 children learn what a 'fair test' is, they begin to take measurements from a range of equipment, Children begin to gather and record data and report their findings orally and in writing. Children are taught to understand what variables are and how to control them.

In Upper Key Stage 2 children are given opportunities to take measurements from a range of equipment, understanding the need for repeated measures to increase accuracy. Children begin to gather and record data using labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs. Children use test results to make further predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests. Children make conclusions on the test carried out, orally and in writing.

National Curriculum - Year 3 

• Plants including parts of plants, needs of plants and their lifecycles
• Animals including humans, focusing on nutrition, skeletons and muscles
• Rocks, including comparing rocks, looking at fossils and understanding how soil is made
•  Light, looking at how light is reflected, how shadows are formed and can change.
• Forces and magnets, focusing on attraction and repulsion of magnets, magnetic materials and the two poles of a magnet.

National Curriculum - Year 4

• Living things and their habitats, including classifying living things and looking at changes to environments.
• Animals, including humans, focusing on eating: teeth, the digestive system and food chains.
• States of matter, including grouping materials, changing state, evaporation and condensation.
• Sound, looking at creation of sound through vibration and changes in pitch and volume.
• Electricity, including constructing a circuit and understanding conductors and insulators.

National Curriculum - Year 5

• Living things and their habitats, including life cycles of a mammal, amphibian, insect and bird.
• Animals, including humans, focusing on changes from birth to old age.
• Properties and changes of materials, including dissolving, separating and reversible changes.
• Earth and space, looking at the movement of the sun, earth and moon.
• Forces, including gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction.

National Curriculum - Year 6

• Living things and their habitats, including classifying micro-organisms, plants and animals.
• Animals, including humans, focusing mainly on diet and exercise.
• Evolution and inheritance, looking at fossils, reproduction and adaptation.
• Light, looking closely at how it travels and how shadows are made.
• Electricity, analysing the function of lamps, buzzers, cells and switches.